Twenty Years Old
by cluelessclown
Summary: It's the Weasley twins' tenth birthday and so they both decide to have a small chat with their parents before heading off to mischief-making with their birthday presents. One-shot. "But Mum, we're not little children anymore!" exclaimed George indignantly. "Fred and I are ten today. Together we're twenty years old!"


**Twenty Years Old**

...

The first day of April saw the sun rise over Stoatshead Hill, as every other morning. Wizards and Muggles living in the village or its outskirts were most asleep, given it was a Saturday and most of them didn't have to get back to work until Monday morning.

The Burrow was particularly peaceful for the significant date the Weasleys found themselves in. Molly and Arthur's three elder children, Bill, Charlie and Percy, were still studying at Hogwarts, their sixth, fifth and first years respectively. The four younger were still too young to attend school. Eight-year-old Ron was snoring peacefully in his bedroom, with its walls already crammed with Chudley Cannons posters. Ginny, their seven-year-old daughter, did the same in her room, which was full with Wizarding toys and all sorts of Quidditch books, posters and magazines.

Fred and George were both stuck in the middle. They were twin brothers, and had stuck together for as long as they could remember. There was no George without Fred, and no Fred without George. The two of them were partners in crime, fellow pranksters and, most importantly, each other's best friend.

"Wake up, Freddie!" whispered George excitedly, shaking his brother urgently. "Come on, you lazy butt!"

Fred looked up at his brother with a sleepy expression. He obviously didn't know what was going on, given he just gave George a loud yawn and turned around.

"Lemme sleep, George," he yawned. "It's Saturday."

But George wouldn't quit poking his cheek and trying to make him open his eyes. Fred still felt quite annoyed, but he managed to go to sleep again. He was lucky he was a heavy sleeper.

"Fred, it's our _birthday_ today!" insisted George. "We're gonna get a _cake_ just for ourselves, and _loads of presents_!"

One of Fred's eyes cracked open at his brother's words. How could he have forgotten? They had spent a good two hours talking excitedly about their birthday the previous night, hence the reason he was still so sleepy.

"That's true!" whispered Fred, bolting up from his bed. "How could I have forgotten it's our birthday today, Georgie Boy?"

George grinned, knowing his brother was now ready for whatever adventure they might encounter on their birthday, as they had discussed the previous night. The two of them, still in their pyjamas, tiptoed out of their room, on their way to their parents'. They heard Ron's snores as they scurried down the stairs, sometimes chorused by the ghoul's snores and mourns too. Ginny's room was eerily silent, but neither Fred nor George dared to peer inside. They knew better than to mess with Ginny in her sleep.

A few moments later, Fred and George found themselves in front of their parents' bedroom. Fred placed his index finger over his lips, and George nodded, slowly opening the door. Once inside, Fred nodded in the darkness, but George knew it was time to act. The two of them dashed towards the king-sized bed, landing exactly between their mother and father. The two of them laughed happily, Fred shaking Arthur and George shaking Molly.

"Mummy, daddy!" exclaimed Fred and George happily, hopping up and down on their parents' bed. "Guess what's happening today!"

Arthur was woken up by his sons' happy yells, whilst Molly, who was already awake, tried to calm the twins down. She sat up on the bed and looked at Arthur, who wore an extremely sleepy expression as he rubbed his eyes.

"Shh," she said. "You're gonna wake them up." She pointed at the door in front of Molly and Arthur's room, which led to Ginny's room. "You know how little does Ginny like to be interrupted from her sleep."

Fred and George shared a glance, and nodded at once. The two of them sat huddled together with their parents, and a whilst later Arthur scooped each of them into his lap, embracing them tightly.

"Happy birthday, sons," he said, kissing the top of their exact red heads. "You're ten now. Ah, only one year left 'till Hogwarts. You're both so old."

"Now, Arthur, they're still children," laughed Molly, who scooped Fred onto her lap.

Fred and George shared annoyed glances.

"But Mum, we're not little children anymore!" exclaimed George indignantly. "Fred and I are ten today. Together we're twenty years old!"

Molly smiled. "You might very well be twenty years old together," she said, rubbing George's nose. "But you're George and he's Fred, and for now you're only ten years old each."

"But we wanna be older!" protested Fred, who had started hopping up and down on her lap again.

Molly ruffled his hair. "You'll see Freddie, you'll turn twenty in no time."

"Heard that, George?" asked Fred happily. "We'll both be twenty in no time. We'll be the biggest wizards in the world! Bigger than Dad even."

"But Dad's the greatest wizard," argued George.

"We'll be better anyway," insisted Fred. "When we're old, Dad and Mum are gonna be so proud of us." He looked up at both of his parents with a grin on his face. "Right, Mum and Dad?"

Both of them nodded in unison. Molly hugged Fred tightly, and Arthur did the same with George. The four of them stayed together for a while, in a complete silence. At first, Molly was surprised about her sons' quiet attitudes, but ended up enjoying the silence. But, as she had predicted, the big question popped up ultimately.

"Well, what about our presents?" asked George.

Molly and Arthur shared complicity glances.

"Oh – the _presents_," said Arthur casually. "Do you mean those, wonderful, huge, magnificent – "

"Shh, Arthur!" exclaimed Molly, a smile playing on her lips. "It's a surprise! You surely don't want them to find about the _enormous cookie and chocolate cake_ either, do you? Now, you go fetch the presents from the living room."

Fred and George gaped at their parents, not believing their ears. An _enormous cookie and chocolate cake_ and a wonderful, huge, and magnificent present? Was that even possible? Meanwhile, Arthur shuffled out of bed and walked downstairs, looking for their presents. The two children stayed with their mother, trying to get her to tell them what their presents were. Molly, however, kept her mouth shut all along.

A while later, Arthur came back, his arms full with presents. It seemed like Charlie, Bill and even Percy had bothered to buy them birthday presents. The two children reached for Percy's presents first, which were two new quills for each of them, with a brief note from their eleven-year-old brother.

_I hope my present enlightens you to become good students and intelligent wizards one day._

_-Percy I. Weasley._

_P.S.: Please do keep in mind these are not suitable for your experiments._

"What a prat," mumbled Fred, as they skimmed over to Charlie's present. "Who'd buy their younger brothers a quill for their birthday?"

"Apparently, Percy I. Weasley would," said George, mimicking his older brother's pompous tone.

Charlie's present was much nicer. He'd sent them each a book on fantastic beasts, Fred's copy mainly about dragons and George's about other minor fantastic beasts. The two of them examined their books, Fred gasping at the huge pictures and descriptions of the Hungarian Horntail and George feeling amazed by the nasty cuts on a man's face after having encountered a Blast-Ended Skrewt.

Bill's present was also very nice, being an assortment of Honeydukes candies for each of them. Fred tried to reach into one of his Bertie Bott's boxes, but his mother took all the candy away, telling them she'd let them eat some after lunch.

After a number of presents from close relatives, family friends and more, Fred and George found that it was only their parents' presents left. Both of them saw a single, huge package with their names written clearly in Arthur's neat handwriting. The first one to reach out for it was Fred, who tentatively started unwrapping the box. George soon joined him, and in a matter of seconds the two of them found themselves with a big, black chest about a foot tall and two feet wide.

"You open it," whispered Fred, feeling completely mystified by the chest.

George nodded, touching the lid and then pulling it up carefully. The children were revealed things that were beyond their imagination: all sorts of prank material, along with a wide assortment of Dungbombs, Dr Filibuster's and many other firework materials.

"Where in the world did you get this?" asked Fred in a faint voice, not daring to look away from the open chest in case it was just an illusion.

"A compilation of Zonko's Joke Shop's best articles," said Arthur as he sat behind his children, patting their backs. "You'll get to go there when you're a bit older."

"What'd you think?" asked Molly, a smile on her face.

Fred turned around and hugged her.

"It's wonderful!" he exclaimed.

George did the same almost instantly with his dad. Then, the two children shared a knowing glance and without saying a word each of them grabbed one side of the chest and carried it out of the bedroom, saying quick good-byes to their parents. Molly and Arthur sat there in silence, watching the spot where the chest had been only a few seconds ago.

"You know that present of ours only made things worse, right?" asked Molly.

"Yeah," mumbled Arthur, as he slipped back into the bed, his eyelids feeling terribly heavy. "But let them be for a while. At least I can catch a good sleep before they start messing – "

The two of them heard an explosion coming from the garden.

"_Up_." finished Arthur. When he saw the look on Molly's face, he groaned and shuffled out of bed again. "These kids are impossible."

Yes, those kids were impossible. But Molly and Arthur knew they would not change them for anything.

...

**A/N**: Taa-daa! There you go. That's what you get when le Elli is bored on a long Saturday evening. Anyway, hope you people liked it! This was just a short drabble so I don't expect any huge praise, but please review anyway! It'd be lovely to know what you guys think about the story. :)

Eleanor x


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